PART 3
OHAHU GRAND CIRCLE ISLAND TOUR & the'IOLANI PALCE TOUR

The Island tour was an all day tour & covered 120 miles of Ohau. This beautiful drive offered a number of stops which were a photgraphers delight. Since I knew my sister was getting a lot of the shots & I didn't want to miss really concentrating on what I was seeing, I didn't shoot as many pictures as she did but managed to capture a few of the marvelous veiws.
Mother Nature did not cooperate fully & the waves on the North Shore were not as spectacular as I have seen on TV. Also the famous Blow Hole refused to show off & give us a nice big Blow.
Other beautiful spots though were Sandy Beach, Makapuu Point which is below Makapuu Lighthouse.

A fascinating place to me was Byodu-In Temple which contained hugh statue of a Budda, a replica of one which exists in Japan. It is situated in a beutiful garden area & outside there is a huge gong which my sister & I each rang.

Our final stop was at the Dole Plantation where we rode the Pinapple Express which wound it's way around the scenic route where the various plants were labled for easy identication. We listened to songs especially written for the Express & a naration as we traveled along the route. Afterwards we enoyed some delicius Pinapple Ice cream. There were also a maze & a tour of the Garden which because both us were tired & my sis had been plaqued with a sore leg for days & of course my back injury, we decided to forgo those.

There is a lot of traffic on Oahu, & especially in Honolulu, so it is really nice to leave all of the driving to a capeable bus driver. Ours was quite witty & kept us entertained with his comments as we drove along. All of the tour drivers or drivers who picked us up at our Hotel, refered to themselves as cousins. We had a cousin Star, yes that was really his name, a cousin Bob & various other cousins. These drivers also told us about little known stories about places we were seeing. For example, the Military hospital is pink, & one of our drivers told us, that when the Japanese bombers were bombing Pearl Harbor, they flew over the hospital. Because of it's color & it's design, they thought it was a school & spared it. He said his grandmother worked there at the time. The sad thing though, was that the archetect who had designed the building, had received so mush teasing about his choice of colors, committed suicide shortly before the bombing & never new that his coice of color saved thousands of lives.

Our last tour was of the 'Iolani Palace which was the home of the Hawaiian rulers up until the last one Queen LILI'UOKALANI (1838-1917) who succeeded her brother King Kalkaua in 1891 until 1893 when the Hawaian monarcy was overthrown,& eventually Hawaii became or 50th state.
Queen Lili'uokalani was a well educated queen & I believe was taught as a child by a Missionary woman. She was quite concerned about the Hawaian people & their welfare so it is
ironic that she suffered an embarrasing & unfair trial & finally imprisonment in her bedroom, I believe it was for 5 years.

Each room was Ornate & beautiful & I wished that we were allowed to take pictures. We did find a few postcards of the interior such as the throne room wher dignitaries gathered & were presentd to the monarchs who sat on their thrones. It also was the place where balls were held.
There are still some of the beutiful furniture once agian back in the palace, but some was auctioned off & found it's way all over the world. They are still hunting some of it.

The queen's bedroom contained a small iron bed upon which she slept during her imprisonment & for 5 years the guards marched outside her room. She had one attendent who elected to stay with her during this time. I almost felt a palatable sadness upon entering this room.
There are two floors & a basement where the crown jewels are on display. She also was the author of many songs Inluding Aloha Oe, & many other beutifull Hawaian songs.

Since I love History, & love to visit historic places, I was enthralled with the Palace, & seeing the pictures lining the walls of all of the Hawaiian rulers down through the centuries, & the many artifacts on veiw. I would recommend each of the tours we took, & if one has a longer time,there are museums such as the Bishop Museum & many other places of interest, including an Aquarium which was close to our hotel but we didn't have time to visit.

I am so thankful to the Lord for enabling me to visit this beautiful place that I've always dreamed of visiting, & to my sister for escorting me & paying for my hotel & transportation as well as many other things of this trip. It was a special time for the two of us. I'm 22 months older so we have always shared a close bond.

PART 2 POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER

This all day trip, truly lived up to our expectations.
The Polynesian Village consists of 7 different Villages
representing the Islands of Samoa, Aotearoa,which I believe is a part of New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, which consists of several islands, Marquesas, where they have full body tatoos, Tahiti, & Tonga.

The Village was built by the Church of Latter Day Saints & provides scholarships & employment for the Brigam Young University of Hawaii students, who we were told must maintain a B averaage to be able to work there or take part in the Evening Pagent. Once graduated many of these students return to their native homes to provide needed services & skills.

Each Village is unique & every building was crafted & looks exactly the way it would appear in it's native country, & every village featured authentic native activities. On one of them we watched them start a fire, on another climb a Coconut tree. There were native games which visiting children & in some cases adults enjoyed participating in.

The people in each Village were warm & friendly & we enjoyed talking with them & learning things about there particular Island. We also enjoyed watching the Canoe Pagent, where Each Island was represented by the natives wearing their colorful costumes, chanting or singing as they passed.

We met some very friendly girls in one of the villages, who later helped me onto the canoe for our own ride back towards the entrance where the evening program was scheduled. This saved us a very long walk since we were at the far end of the Villages.

Since neither my sister & myself are big eaters, we had gotten the package without the Luau, & consequently our seats we learned were in what I always refer to as the nosebleed section. However the Lord provides so well for "His Kids", we were provided with a much better location. Right behind those expensive seats was a wheelchair section which also had a few chairs. The young man who had taken our tickets asked us if we would like to sit there, & we gratefully excepted. Some times it pays to be a little old lady!

The show "Horizons in the Pacific" was spectacular.
Cameras using a flash were prohibited, because of the distraction to the performers, ( It involved in one instance (tossing of knives back & forth between a man on the the balcony & one on the stage) The lighting & the singing & dance were beautiful, & at one point there was an eruption of the Volcano which was in the background.
This Village & show is defintely a must see.

NOVEMBER 16
OUR ALOHA ADVENTURE

PART ONE (DISASTEROUS START)

This like my daughters will have to be a several part Blog.

Day One
After dropping my dog Sandy off at my daughters, my sister & I checked into the Red Lion & all 3 of us,(my brother-in-law plus my sis & I headed over to a nearby restaurant. It had rained & the streets were wet & slick, & on the way back, I either slipped or tripped, but suddenly my cheek, met the hard sidewalk & my glasses were knocked cattywampus, & every part of what I was wearing ended up both wet & muddy,including, my canvas carry on. This definitly was not the way I wanted my adventure to begin.

My sweet sister took my wt muddy things to the laundry room & washed & dried them. The glasses could not be worn, but thankfully, I had prescription glasses which I had tinted for sunglasses along & had to wear these all during the trip.

The next morning, after checking in, we flew into beautiful Honolulu where the warm balming breezes were a welcome respite from the cold & rain, & where we were greeted by our representative from Happy Vacations & presented with a fragrent,purple & white floral leis. We were whisked away to our Hotel the New Otani & found our room on the 3rd floor with a balcony which overlooked the Beach & Ocean. The Sunsets were gorgeous, & the Hotel was one block from a bus stop, where we discovered that good old number 2 bus could take us into Wakkiki. We liked the fact that it wasn't right downtown but was a short bus ride into town.

The next day we had arranged to tour the Arizona & the Battleship Missouri, & were picked up at the Hotel which took us to the tour bus. Once there we took the audio tour of the Memorial. This was a very moving, & emotional experience as we were once again reminded of the terrible loss of life that had occured during the bombing & sinking of the many Battleships which had been lined up at Pearl Harbor, plus the additional civilians, including babies & small children. We read the names of one whole family. Many ships had more than one family member who died serving together & we read letters which were incased in glass. One especially brought me to tears as it was addressed to Dear Momma & Daddy, indicating a very young sailor.

We toured the battleship Missouri next where the papers were signed ending the war, & it is a fitting tribute that both are there side by side, where the war began & where it ended.

Stay tuned for more of our adventure